Doomsday Preppers are a fascinating sub-species of American weirdos

Monday

Aug 25, 2014 at 6:15 PMAug 25, 2014 at 6:37 PM

I don’t watch it as often as I should, but I find that TV show about “Doomsday Preppers” invariably entertaining — and not merely as comedy.

I’m fascinated, for example, by the great variety of paranoid notions among preppers. Some are fearful of a race war. Others foresee environmental catastrophes or a pandemic caused by some mystery virus. Still others are predicting a foreign invasion.

And then there are people who foresee an impending war with their own government. People like THESE GUYS:

A group of “doomsday preppers” have admitted to illegally purchasing firearms and destructive devices as part of a plot to kill government agents.

Martin Howard Winters, who surrendered June 18 to authorities in Florida following a two-day manhunt, led a group known as the River Otter Preppers, reported the Tampa Bay Times.

Authorities said the 55-year-old Winters agreed to turn himself in after FBI agents promised him dry shoes, Gatorade, and a couple of cheeseburgers.

Group members stockpiled weapons and other supplies to prepare for Armageddon, as foretold by the Bible’s Book of Revelations.

An undercover FBI agent reported Winters had discussed guns he buried and booby traps he set to kill government authorities if they raided his property in Valrico.

He will formally plead guilty Oct. 2 to illegally designing and owning destructive devices, and he agreed to disclose the location of at least 30 semiautomatic rifles he obtained through straw buyers.

I don’t watch it as often as I should, but I find that TV show about “Doomsday Preppers” invariably entertaining — and not merely as comedy.

I’m fascinated, for example, by the great variety of paranoid notions among preppers. Some are fearful of a race war. Others foresee environmental catastrophes or a pandemic caused by some mystery virus. Still others are predicting a foreign invasion.

And then there are people who foresee an impending war with their own government. People like THESE GUYS:

A group of “doomsday preppers” have admitted to illegally purchasing firearms and destructive devices as part of a plot to kill government agents.

Martin Howard Winters, who surrendered June 18 to authorities in Florida following a two-day manhunt, led a group known as the River Otter Preppers, reported the Tampa Bay Times.

Authorities said the 55-year-old Winters agreed to turn himself in after FBI agents promised him dry shoes, Gatorade, and a couple of cheeseburgers.

Group members stockpiled weapons and other supplies to prepare for Armageddon, as foretold by the Bible’s Book of Revelations.

An undercover FBI agent reported Winters had discussed guns he buried and booby traps he set to kill government authorities if they raided his property in Valrico.

He will formally plead guilty Oct. 2 to illegally designing and owning destructive devices, and he agreed to disclose the location of at least 30 semiautomatic rifles he obtained through straw buyers.

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